Page 207 of Mud

And I believed him. It really was over—for good. I died here in this frozen hell. I died because I wasn’t going to kill the vulcera. I would lose, yes, but I wasn’t going to let them win. At least not Madeline.

Except when the dust settled completely and the pieces of the broken talon were all over the ground, I looked again. I looked at the frozen surface of the lake, a lake that might not even be there at all, but…it was.

I saw the crack, thick and big and stretching at least twenty feet.

With shaking hands, I pushed myself to sit up, to blink, to focus harder, make sure I wasn’t just seeing things.

A thick crack had appeared on the surface of the lake, and the water was there. I saw the crystal blue of it underneath, and it called my fucking name like it wanted to be set free from this goddess-damned frozen hell, too!

Impossible, impossible—yet it was right in front of my eyes. Tears sprung from them, big and warm, and a smile—a silly, silly smile—tugged hard at my lips.

I got up, sat on the second talon, and I began to stab again.

It took me longer than the first to see that crack. It took me minutes and hours and days and years because my movements were too slow, and my energy minimal.

Even so, I was stubborn. Just as stubborn as this damn ice, so I didn’t quit. And when Taland left his eagle on the ground and began to cross over onto the lake to climb up to me, I called at the top of my voice for him to stand back.

I had this. I fucking had this, and I was going to break this talon, too, no matter how long it took.

Then…

“Step aside!”

I could have sworn that’s what Taland said.

He was screaming from the ground, both hands on the sides of his mouth, and he was telling me,step aside.

I wanted to keep going, just sit there and continue to stab the hell out of this ice, but maybe he could helpwithout having to climb at all. Maybe his magic would reach all the way up here.

After all, if not him,whocould do this better?

So, I moved.

Standing on shaking legs, I moved back onto the leg of the roc statue again, stabbed a knife to the surface of it to hold onto, and I waited.

The magic came.

Blackfire spread from the ground, coming closer and closer so fast I almost thought I was making it up. It slammed against the talon I’d managed to crack only a little bit.

The statue groaned. My heart jumped.

When the Blackfire disappeared, I dared to move a bit closer, to see where the ice was cracking still, where it would break if only that magic had been a little stronger.

No matter.

I grabbed my gun, loaded it with a brand-new magazine, and I shot every bullet in it at the crack as fast as my finger allowed.

The talon fell.

Chapter 38

Rosabel La Rouge

Present day

Water at the bottom of the statue.

Watercoming straight out of the lake trapped underneath the ice.

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